This invention is related to fishing reels, and more particularly to a heavy duty fly reel of the kind suitable for salmon, tarpon, bone fish, marlin, and the like.
A well constructed heavy-duty fly reel for large game fish will commonly be provided with a ratchet-operated handle through which the reel may be wound in one direction, and with an adjustable drag by which the resistance of the unwinding of the reel may be varied. However, in lower priced reels, the drag arrangement may consist merely of a click-pawl system in which the tension on one or more pawl-biasing springs is controlled by a simple cam arrangement. On more sophisticated reels, an adjustable brake or drag is provided in addition to, or in place of, a click-pawl drag.
In some reels, provision has been made for applying a secondary restraining mechanism or drag apart from the setting of the drag on the spool. The reason for a secondary drag is that once an angler has a fish on the line, it is often not feasible to stop and make adjustments to a built-in drag, or the drag may not have sufficient capacity to control the fish. Also an adjustment of the drag can be uncertain or too slow to compensate for the unexpected action of the fish. Thus, some reels have been provided with a palming type of brake in which the rotating outer portion of the reel itself is extended beyond the side frames so that the fisherman can press his hand against the exposed rim, known as a "palming rim," and apply a measure of control to the unwind. However, this requires that the fisherman apply an upward pressure to an underslung reel with one hand, while holding the rod with the other hand, causing one hand to work against the other. In this type of reel the handle is fixed to the face of the spool, and care must be exercised least the handle strike the thumb. Also, there is the possibility of getting the hands burned on the reel or otherwise injured.
Also, a versatile adjustable mechanical drag control in handling large fish or highly energetic fish is of importance. The drag must operate through long runs without heating excessively. As the reel diameter decreases due to the paying out of the line, the reduced reel diameter imposes even greater demands on the mechanical drag. The drag adjustment itself is often inaccessible, or requires the fisherman to change hands to operate, or is subject to error in use, so that the fisherman may inadvertently adjust the drag in the wrong direction. Thus, the external palming control described above has been applied to some reels, but has been less than entirely satisfactory due primarily to the awkward position of the hands.
Internal drags themselves, which have been provided, have frequently been incapable of withstanding heavy duty use or of providing sufficient retardation over a period of time, without undue wear. Such drag is primarily used to prevent overrun of the spool and is noisy in operation. Such drags are commonly operated through a one-way or anti-reverse mechanism which disables the drag during retrieve. Commonly, cork faces are employed which are subject to wear.
In many heavy-duty reels for salmon, tarpon and the like, there is no provision for disabling the winding handle during the times that the line is being taken out from the reel. The rate of unwind, in some instances, can spin the reel at a high rate of speed, such as an excess of 1,000 rpm. A flailing winding knob attached to the spool or to a crank poses a risk of injury to the fisherman. In the construction of anti-reverse reels, the handle is attached to the brake and the control of the fish is accomplished by varying the tension. A sudden surge or jump of the fish while the tension is near the breaking point of the line or leader can cause a breakage and loss of the fish since there is no time to relieve the tension on the brake.